Chapter 2

For five years, Julian had let us believe he was broke.

When Anna asked for a piano, he would kiss her hair and say, “Soon, sweetheart. Daddy needs to save a little more.”

I believed him. We lived in a drafty duplex with a kitchen window that rattled in the wind. I had a degree and a small daughter, but a long gap in my work history and the cost of childcare made even entry-level interviews hard to come by. I took whatever shifts I could, then set up a folding table at the park on weekends. Anna sang, I played guitar, and together we sold little bags of homemade cookies to people walking by.

Every night she asked whether we had earned enough for a used piano.

“Not quite,” I would say, counting the tips into a jar. “We’ll try again tomorrow.”

One month before her sixth birthday, the jar finally held enough for the cheapest upright in the music shop. Anna and I went downtown after school. As we stepped inside, I saw Julian on the upper level with Olivia Leland and her little girl, Madison.

Olivia leaned close to him. Madison sat on the bench of a gleaming concert grand, striking keys at random while the salesman praised its sound. Julian watched her with the easy pride I had begged him to show our daughter.

“Excuse me,” I asked the saleswoman, “how much is that one?”

“It was commissioned for Mr. Mercer,” she said. “Hand-finished by a German master. The price is just over a million dollars.”

For a moment, I couldn’t hear the room.

Anna tugged my sleeve. “Mom, is that the piano Dad ordered for me?”

She hadn’t understood who Olivia was. She only knew her father was finally buying a piano.

I looked at Anna’s faded dress and could not find a gentle way to tell her the truth. She noticed my silence and squeezed my hand.

“Maybe Dad has something important to talk about with that lady. We can come back another day.”

She said it bravely. Her eyes gave her away.